New Study Shows Smokers and Obese Actually Save Government on Health Care Costs

A new study from the Netherlands has empirically verified what many have pointed out for years against those who seek to justify arbitrary taxes on certain products deemed unhealthy: because unhealthy people have shorter life spans, they tend to save government money over the long-term. From the Telegraph:

Healthy people cost taxpayers more in medical bills over their lifetimes than smokers or the obese, a new study has found.

Because they tend to live longer, the savings that they make the state in youth and middle age are wiped out by the high cost of dealing with lingering diseases of old age like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

By contrast smokers - who pour millions extra into government coffers by purchasing cigarettes - cost the state the least because they tend to die younger.

According to the research, a person of normal weight costs on average £210,000 over their lifetime, a smoker just £165,000 and an obese person £187,000.

So the next time you hear somebody arguing that it's right to raise taxes on cigarettes or "unhealthy" foods because the consumers of those products impose high government health care costs borne by other taxpayers, tell them flat out they are wrong. And then ask them what their true agenda is. More than likely you'll find out that they merely want to to do two things: (1) find a minority to impose an arbitrary tax on to fund some new government program, or (2) impose their nanny-state view of the world on others.

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At TaxProf Blog, tax professors comment on the Wesley Snipes trial verdict. Snipes was convicted of failing to file tax returns, although acquitted of more serious conspiracy and fraud charges. Snipes's co-defendants, who pushed the "§ 861 argument" to evade taxes, were convicted of all counts. Professor Buchanan at GW analyzes:

In short, even if Snipes manages to avoid jail time (which I hope he won't), the price he will pay is steep. In an attempt to evade $14 million in taxes, Snipes must now pay that amount in full plus interest plus penalties probably exceeding $10 million, plus legal fees, all while now carrying a criminal record. Add in the years of uncertainty that this prosecution caused Snipes, as well as the personal toll of a trial carrying the possibility of 16 years in prison, and this does not look like an advertisement for getting into the tax denial game.

We reviewed the "§ 861 argument" fraud here.

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On this date (February 3rd) in history 95 years ago...the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

Or did Ohio never truly approve of it? What is your favorite 16th Amendment "it was never really ratified" theory?

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The stealthy carbon tax, to be introduced by the Republican majority in both chambers of the Kansas state legislature this week, would pose a number of problems to KS businesses.  SB2711 (http://www.kansaschamber.org/forms/08/Energylegislation.pdf), intended to stop regulation that would prevent a coal-powered electrical plant from being built in Western Kansas, goes overboard by creating a new tax statute, imposing mandatory emmissions caps, and allowing government to intrude into the market, undoubtably favoring existing assets over expansion and new assets.  State governments should not be in the business of picking winners and losers.  This is especially troubling because Kansas would be the first state to enact such a tax and it would set a dangerous precedent, with Republicans leading the way to more government intrusion. Go to the original author's site: